The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is violating the law by failing to turn over records related to an executive order issued by President Donald Trump protecting production of the controversial pesticide glyphosate, according to a lawsuit filed Monday.
The lawsuit, filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, seeks to force the USDA to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request the center submitted on Feb. 26 requesting records related to how and why the order was developed.
“The main thing we’re hoping to understand is who in particular pushed for this?” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at The Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit organization that advocates for environment and health issues.
The order was widely questioned by public health and environmental groups who saw the move by the Trump administration as directly benefitting Germany’s Bayer, which manufactures glyphosate in the US and is a key supplier of glyphosate-based herbicides, such as Roundup. Glyphosate herbicides have been linked to health issues such as cancer, and Bayer is currently fending off tens of thousands of lawsuits brought by people suffering from cancer they blame on exposure to the company’s products.
Bayer has been lobbying for federal and state laws to protect it from further litigation, and has asked the US Supreme Court for a ruling that would preempt key claims in the lawsuits.
The Supreme Court decision could be issued this week and will determine whether people can bring failure-to-warn legal claims against pesticide companies in the future.
Hellbound and Down 